Rolling contact printing form locking device



Feb. 24, 1959 9.1 LOWE ROLLING CONTACT PRINTING FORM LOCKING DEVICE FiledMay 20, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 H'fiBf/Pfd Lin E INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Feb. 24, 1959 H. J. LowE ROLLING CONTACT PRINTING FORM LQCKING D EVICE Filed May 20, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS United States Patent ROLLING CONTACT PRINTING FORM LOCKING DEVICE Herbert J. Lowe, Galesburg, 111. Application May 20, 1954, Serial No. 431,097

1 Claim. (Cl. 101378) This invention relates to a tubular printing press and more particularly to a tubular printing press having a plurality of cylindrical type forms or plates thereon disposed in axial end to end alignment relative to each other, each form being clamped on to a plate cylinder to be used to print a multiple paged newspaper.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide a rotary printing press of the kind to be more particularly described hereinafter for printing a number of pages of a sheet of paper at one time with different printed matter as for the pages of a newspaper having a wide distribution and circulation as in a big city or the like.

It is another object of this invention to provide a rotary printing press of this kind having novel locking means carried by the plate cylinders bearing the type forms whereby the type forms may be easily removed from the cylinder to be replaced by other desired type forms.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a rotary printing press of this kind wherein a number of sheets of printed matter may be easily doubled or otherwise increased from a conventional single sheet press to result in a greatly increased saving in the number of times of the use of the press and in savings in the quantity of paper used by the press.

It is yet a further object of this invention to provide a rotary printing press of this kind which is capable of holding four one page wide type forms, backed by A two similar plates on the opposite side, each cast in a tubular or sleeve fashion so that two four page sheets of a newspaper, may be printed at the same time without requiring the necessity of further printing of the paper.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter described and the novel features thereof defined in the appended claim.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly'broken away and partly in section of an improved rotary printing press constructed according to my invention.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of a pair of plate cylinders of my invention showing the locking means for locking the type forms to their supporting shaft or plate cylinder.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the pair of cylinders shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan view, partly broken away and partly in section of the entire number of plate cylinders for the press with some of the cylinders separate from the others.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section of the plate cylinder taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a transverse section taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is a transverse section, partly broken away, taken 7 on the line 7-7 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary section partly broken away taken on the line 88 of Fig. 3. V

Fig. 9 is a broken away diagrammatic showing of the common locking device for the type forms removed from the cylinder.

2,874,638 Patented Feb. 24, 1959 Referring now more particularly to the drawings the numeral 20 designates generally an improved rotary printing press constructed and arranged according to my invention.

The rotary printing press 20 is adapted for printing material on pages, as on a paper or the like, and printing matter on a double width or two sheets of the paper at the same time in order to avoid the many printing operations for the many sheets of a paper commonly required by the two page wide conventional rotary printing presses at the present time.

The printing press 20 comprises a support 21 having end walls 22 formed integral therewith or secured thereon.

A plurality of plate cylinders 24 having axial bores therethrough and having a longitudinal slot opening through the outer side thereof are detachably connected onto a rotatable shaft 26 which has a drive gear 27 secured to one end thereof. The drive shaft 26 has an outwardly extending lug 28 secured to the shaft adjacent to one end thereof or intermediate the length thereof for the reasons and purposes to be hereinafter described. The lug 28 may be in the form of a set screw and will properly engage within an arcuate recess 29 in the plate cylinder 24. Preferably a plurality of plate cylinders 24 will be longitudinally aligned on the drive shaft 26 and the lug 28 may engage in the outermost of the cylin ders, remote from the drive gear 27, or may engage in one of the intermediate plate cylinders so that the shaft and the plate cylinder engaged with the lug will rotate at the same time.

Lock bolts 30 having a head 31 on the outer side thereof and a beveled gear splined shank 32 are loosely engaged in a series of openings 33 arranged along the length of each of the plate cylinders. A common rotatable lock bolt operator 34 is disposed longitudinally of each of the plate cylinders 24 adjacent to the drive shaft 26, the common lock bolt operator 34 having longitudinally extending beveled gear splines 35 extending longitudinally thereof. The common lock bolt operator 34 is rotatably engaged within an elongated cavity 36 in each of the plate cylinders 24 inwardly of and adjacent to the inner ends of the lock bolt openings 33.

A beveled gear 37 is fixed to one end of the common operator shaft 34 for actuation of the lock bolts 30 to either their locking or unlocking position.

Type forms or plates 38 are slid onto each of the plate cylinders 24 concentric thereto and each of the type forms 38 has a longitudinally extending slot 39 therein to permit sliding onto and off of the plate cylinder on which it is locked. The longitudinal slot also permits sliding the type form past the end bearing opposite the gear.

Within the cavity 36 there is disposed a beveled gear 37 for actuating the common lock bolt operator 34 and the beveled gear 40 is attachable to the lower end of the lock operating key 41 which extends outwardly or radially of the printing cylinder 34 and the type form 38 so that the lock for the type form may be actuated by an operator of the press exteriorly thereof. A cross arm or disc 42 secured to the operating key 41 on the outer side of the rotary printing press so that the operator .of the press may actuate the cross arm or disc 42 to remove or to lock on the type forms 38 to the plate cylinders 24.

The general operation of the improved rotary printing press 20 is the same as the conventional type of rotary printing press having inking cylinders 44 rotatably supported in the support 21 and ink rollers 45 also rotatably supported in the support 21 for transferring ink to the type forms 38 from a ductor roll 46 which receives its ink from a fountain or duct 47 also within the support 21 at the lower part thereof.

Impression cylinders 47 are also rotatably carried by the support 21 at the upper side thereof for en- ,side by siderelation toeach otherin the printing press 20 a separate impression cylinder 47 will be provided for each of the printing cylinders.

.A-bare steel inking roller would damage a type face which isalmost wholly madeup of a lead alloy, so one of the steel inking rollers 48, covered with a very hard rubber surface, will be engaged at its periphery with the periphery of the type form 38 carried by the plate cylinder and the ink will be transferred from the ink duct 47to all of the steel and rubber ink transfer rollers and cylinders 44 in the press and there will be provided an ink roller of ordinary hardness 45 also engaging the plate cylinders, or type forms 38 on the other side of a vertical plane through each of the plate cylinders 24 so that the plate cylinder is supported by the adjacent impression cylinder and by the hard ink roller therebelow. In this manner the plate cylinders 24 may be rotatably supported at their ends in the end walls 22 without the necessity of any intermediate gearing along the length of the plurality of cylinders on each of the shafts 26.

in the use and operation of this novel rotary printing press described above, paper 50 may be engaged with the impression cylinders 47 by the engagement of the paper around the outer side of one of the cylinders, then between the adjacent cylinders and then down below and outwardly of the other impressioncylinder before the paper passes to the folder and is removed from the press with all of the printing thereon.

It is the purpose of this invention to provide a rotary printing press, each unit of which will have one, two, three or four type forms on the same shaft so that a two,'four, six or eight page document, as a similar newspaper sheet may be printed at one time in contradistinction with the conventional rotary printing press units which merely print two or four pages of the paper and which only provides for one sheet of thenewspaper, or four pages.

When it is desired to change a type form or plate from a plate cylinder 24 it .is only necessary for the operator of the improved press to release the type form by the actuation of the common lock bolt operator 34 adjacent to one end of one of the plate cylinders at which time the type form may be slid from its respective printing cylinder.

The type forms may be removed and inserted by end wisesliding movement of the type forms relative to the printing press so that the outermost of the type forms and the plate cylinders must be cleared before the inner- 4 most forms can be reached. The ordinary use of a printing press of this general type would have the slots of the type forms and their respective plate cylinders in alignment so that a thump is caused by the passing over the plate slots during the operation of the press.

By inserting the plate cylinders 24 onto the shaft 26 in such a manner that the longitudinal slots in the type forms are misaligned or not continuous throughout the length of the shaft is intended. This is accomplished by the operator setting each of the plate cylinders at a different arcuate location relative to the shaft 26. The type forms are most easily slid onto the shaft 26 by freely engaging the lug between the side edges of the arcuate recess 29. The lug may be moved to the other end of the recess when the lug is to drive a certain printing cylinder.

While the specific details of one embodiment of this invention have been herein shown and described, the invention is not confined thereto as changes and alterations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

In a rotary printing press, in combination, a shaft, a first cylinder fixedly mounted on said shaft, a second cylinder rotatably mounted between determined limits on said shaft, a lug on said shaft limiting rotation of said cylinder, said second cylinder having an axial cylindrical bore and a wide arcuate recess, said lug engaging in said recess, said lug permitting the locking elements of the two cylinders to be aligned in one position of .the lug in the recess and otfset in the other position of the lug in the recess so that one or more type. forms may be slidingly inserted onto the cylinders from'one end thereof, a longitudinal line of upstanding locking'elements in each cylinder to engage in the slot of one or more type forms, said locking elements comprising threaded locking bolts of truncated cone shape for engaging the type form, the shanks of the bolts having a gear section, a gear operator in each cylinder engaging said gear sections for tightening and loosening said locking elements, said operators being located under the surface and extending longitudinally of the form cylinders and in mesh with the gear sections of said locking bolts.

vReferences Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,839,722 Aitchison .Jan. 5, 1932 2,100,208 Wood Nov. 23, 1937 2,104,737 Dean Jan. 11, 1938 2,185,342 Keller Jan. 2, 1940 2,621,590 Faeber Dec. 16, 1952 2,642,800 Crabtree June 23, 1953 2,667,832 Ziebell Feb. 2, 1954 

